THE TONIGHT SHOW & LATE NIGHT Dominate May Sweep

Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers have concluded dominant May sweeps by setting eight-week highs in adults 18-49 for the week of May 19-23 and generating week-to-week growth for a second week in a row.

For the May sweep, "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" dominated with a 1.14 rating in 18-49, which is "Tonight's" highest for a May sweep in five years (since a 1.37 in May 2009). Excluding February's Olympic-boosted result, it was also "Tonight's" top rating counting all sweep months since the aforementioned 1.37 in May 2009.

At 12:35 a.m. ET, "Late Night with Seth Meyers" (0.58) scored the top "Late Night" May rating in three years (0.62 in May 2011).

During May, Fallon's 1.14 nearly equaled the combined 1.15 of ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" (0.62) and CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman" (0.53). Meyers' 0.58 topped Letterman's 0.53 - despite starting a full hour later.

Versus May 2013, "Tonight" was up +34% in the 18-49 rating (to a 1.14 from a 0.85) and "Late Night" grew by +14% (0.58 vs. 0.51).

In total viewers for the sweep, Fallon out-delivered Letterman by a 31% margin (3.599 million vs. 2.748 million) and topped Kimmel by a 35% advantage (3.599 million vs. 2.667 million), while Meyers beat CBS's "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" by a 16% margin (1.601 million vs. 1.386 million).

For the week of May 19-23, "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" earned a 1.28 rating in adults 18-49 - its top result since the week of March 24-28 - to beat the combined 18-49 ratings of ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" (0.64) and CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman" (0.47).

Note that last week's Kimmel was an encore on Friday and Letterman was in rebroadcast on Thursday and Friday.

For the week at 12:35 a.m. ET, "Late Night with Seth Meyers" (0.64) captured its top rating since March 24-28 to tie Kimmel and beat Letterman, despite starting an hour later.

The strong week for "The Tonight Show" was boosted by Thursday's telecast, which featured a skit with Will Ferrell and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer and Will Ferrell-look-a-like Chad Smith. Thursday's 1.52 rating in 18-49 is "Tonight's" highest since Monday, March 24 (1.75, with guest Arnold Schwarzenegger).

At 1:35 a.m. ET, "Last Call with Carson Daly" delivered its top May sweep rating in 18-49 (0.33) in three years, since a 0.37 in May 2011. For the week of May 19-23, "Last Call" was up for a second week in a row (to a 0.35 from a 0.33 and a 0.32) and up +17% versus its 0.30 for the same week last year.

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